Feds investigating discipline rate for black Flagler students

Black students made up 16 percent of Flagler students but accounted for 31 percent of the in- and out-of-school suspensions in the 2010-11 school year.

ANNIE MARTINEDUCATION WRITER

PALM COAST — The federal Office of Civil Rights is investigating a complaint that black students in Flagler County are "being pushed out of schools" through harsh disciplinary measures. Community youth advocate Keyontay Humphries and attorney Stephanie Langer from the Southern Poverty Law Center met with residents during a NAACP meeting Tuesday night at the African American Cultural Society. Last summer, the Southern Poverty Law Center announced it had filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights against Flagler County and four other Florida school districts: Bay, Escambia, Okaloosa and Suwannee. The office notified the Montgomery, Ala.-based civil rights organization that it had launched a formal investigation into the Flagler case, which it does not do with every complaint, Langer said. "It's not that often that they'll open a full investigation," she said. The Flagler complaint dealt with the "disparate impact of the disciplinary policies in Flagler County on the African American population in Flagler," she said. Black students made up 16 percent of Flagler students but accounted for 31 percent of the in- and out-of-school suspensions in the 2010-11 school year, the complaint states. Black students accounted for 69 percent of those expelled. School district attorney Kristy Gavin said by phone Tuesday afternoon that the district has responded to a list of 26 questions from the office. Most of the questions were about the district's disciplinary policies, she said. A few pertained to three students singled out in the complaint. "The students that they cited as being disparate — they were provided the same process and protocol that is followed regardless of race, color creed," Gavin said. Langer said the SPLC complaint was "clean and narrow," and the organization has no intention of taking the school district to court. "This is not a case about money," Langer said. "We have not sought attorney's fees. It's all about changing the system in a positive way." Langer and Humphries said they'd like to discuss the matter with school staff and this complaint "puts pressure" on the school district. School officials say they contacted the two organizations after Humphries spoke during an NAACP meeting in March, but Humphries said she felt the district was trying to dispute the data, not resolve the problem. "At this point Flagler has not said they will sit down at the table with us," Humphries said. Reached by phone Tuesday night, Superintendent Janet Valentine said she wasn't aware of the Tuesday meeting until a reporter contacted her earlier in the day. Nobody representing the district spoke during the meeting. The district is taking the complaint seriously, she said. 'We did not feel in any way that we have done anything that would lead to an overrepresentation of discipline of minorities but it certainly makes us look at our procedures,' Valentine said. The district disciplinary review committee, which includes school administrators from across the district, looked at the complaint, Valentine said. The schools are taking a more proactive approach to discipline, which includes linking students with attendance issues or other problems with mentors or social services. "What we want them to know is we take it seriously and we're doing our due diligence as far as reviewing our practices," Valentine said. The complaint also points out a lack of black staff members in Flagler schools. Blacks totaled about 4 percent of teachers, 15 percent of principals and 25 percent of assistant principals during the 2011-12 school year. "We're asking that they actively recruit minority, qualified candidates," said Linda Sharpe Haywood, president of the Flagler branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Althea Civil, whose 11- and 8-year-old daughters attend Rymfire Elementary, said she recently saw a child younger than 12 years old arrested at a park for throwing rocks at another child. "It deeply affects me because that could have been my child," Civil said about the incident. Civil is a detention deputy for the Flagler County's Sheriff's Office, but she was not representing her employer at the meeting. She said she did not feel her own children have been treated unfairly because of their race, but was concerned about the number of children and teenagers arrested in Flagler. "I'm not shocked by it because I work in law enforcement, so I see the the things that are happening, but I'm devastated," Civil said about the statistics included in the Southern Poverty Law Center complaint.